Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1887-03-18
SAM JONES, THE EvANGELIsT
Lectures at the Howard Opera House or
character and Characters"


immense audience at the Howard Opera
House Tuesday Prof Excel, the sing
err, who was expected to accompany Mr..
Jones, was suddenly called away to Chi
cago and unable to be present. The lee
turer was introduced by Rev. DR.. Eaton,
pastor of the Methodist church.
Sam Jones is well built man, Il
little above the average height with a
pleasant, manly face and bearing, fine,
well -mOdulated voice. and an enuncation
that makes every word distinct and clear.
He does not give the impression of an I'M
cultivated man at ALL but on the contrary
possesses the graces and the power of Il
finished speaker HIS oratOry is of a high
order his wit is keen and polished to the
last degree, and in pathos and the power
of swaying the emotions of an audience he
has few equals. HIS lecture last evening
sparkled with wit and with bright SEN
tentious sayings. 1t was somewhat dis
connected and interspersed with examples
aud anecdotes. Applause and laughter
were frequent The following is brief
abstract of the lecture:
THE LECTURE.
! Character is the immortal part of man.
| 1t outranks everything. 1t is that part
of me which outlives the stars Good
character is the ultimatum of all that is
well-directed in human aim. Bad charac-
! ter units me for the best that this world
offers and the best that heaven has in
store. In my study of this subject have
sought for the basis upon which we could
rest character. We cannot rest it upon
the will, nor upon the intellect, nor upon
the conscience. would put the afec-
tions as its foundation. What | love and
what hate determines my character. If
we make the affections the basis of char
acter, would put the law of God SUI
preme, enlightening conscience and then
| | would give conscience control of the
will. When we love God and good and
hate evil, then we are in a position to
build character.
| The first great rock we would lay down
in building character, after the etfec-
tions are made right, is faith. The man
who doubts is weakling. 1nfdelty, Il
want of faith, is Il sort of holding back ar
rangement. lntidelity-what is it at last I;
If were to name it, | should say it was
a great big mouth just going around talk
| ing have great sympathy with men
who say they can't believe, but have no
sympathy with the little fellows who take
after Mr.. Ingersoll-the aggressive sort of
iufdels | can understand why Mr.. In
gersoll is an infidel, when it pays him s. No
a night to be one, but how the little fel-
| lows who run after him can afford to be
intldels for nothing and board themselves
| don't see. Faith is the human hand that
reaches up and takes hold of the hand that
guides the universe. think one of the
troubles of the pulpit today is loss of
| faith. The preacher who believes his
| Bible is power. | believe in my Bible
| believe that right is right and | ought to
do it, and wrong is wrong and ! ought to
quit it. When | say | believe | mean
something more than simple assent.
| hot lit IA h.lt n.1
| believe, believe. Pm going to stick to
my Bible until somebody can furnish me
with a better book.
| If man believes with all his heart, and
his faith is loving principle the next
rock Is courage. If Christianity is atilict-
ed with one thing more than another it is
cowa rdice. The great trouble with us is
the sickly sentimentality Of the churches.
| The best blessing God ever bestowed on a
church is good, brave minister. When
the pulpit lodges issues you can't blame
the juries and the judges and the sheritfs
and the courts for doing the same. We
need pulpit of moral sinew and power
that will grapple with the issues of this
century. If you will breathe the spirit of
grit into your preachers and churches,
prohibition in Vermont will be
prohibition Voices, Yes, yes ~
1t takes courage to enforce the laws OF
| this land, and when you have a law that
you can't and don't enforce you have
anarchy inaugurated. The real anarch-
lists and communists Of the 10Th century
are the liquor men. A good man has
| nothing to fear but the wrong. The
preacher wants courage to deal with moral
issues. Some of the meanest people in
the world are in the churches There are
men in the church with poor widows
money in their pockets. | wouldn't house
IA man like that, if was a preacher. Talk
it out; don't be afraid. If you're right,
Gods with you. If you are right, go it,
but be sure you are right. What moral
force wants in this country is backbone.
Then, if | had that rock, courage, well
| laid, the next | would put right on it is
knowledge. There is great deal of what
we call knowledge in this country that
doesn't amount to much. Some men
! know all about art and science and don't
know how to be good husbands and
fathers The knowledge that will make
you wise you must get from the Bible.
And then add to your knowledge tenn
perance-that great regulating force in
life that makes me do the right thing at
the right time.
And then the rock that fits right on tc
that is patience. We need patience with
our children. We ought to be very pa
tient with the little ones at home. Mother
be patient with the little one. Husband
be patient with the wife. You do not
know how soon they may be taken from
ness. Its the cheapest thing in the worlC
and goes farther than anything. BE kind tC
everybody. BE kind to your dog, if you've
got one y little kindness will make this
world like the bright world up yonder
Let's quit singing Sweet Bye-and- Bye
and let's sing sweet Now and Now"
And to brotherly kindness add charity
There's the Keystone we drop into thu
arch. Brother nothing is so substantial
nothing so eternal as character.
And then characters. There are a grea
many different kinds of them in thi
world. The most ridiculous char
acter to me is one of these grea
solid, dogmatic, dignified doctors of divin
ity, who stands away out from shore an(
says, "All of you sinners who can swim
10 miles, come out here and III pull yor
on board and save you" The earnest
real preacher brings the ship of the Gospe
in through the channel, and throws on
the gang plank, and cries. "All aboard 70
Heaven" If dignity is all the capital
man has in trade, he needs it. want co
operation, and dignity doesn't CO
operate. The most dignited preach